The Rays and the Initiations - Part Two - Section One - The Aspirant
and the Mysteries of Initiation

2. Visualization. Up to this point the activity has
been of a mental nature. The creative imagination has been relatively quiescent; the
disciple has been occupied within the mind and upon mental levels, and has "looked
neither up nor down." But now the right point of tension has been reached; the
reservoir or pool of needed energy has been restrained within the carefully delimited
ring-pass-not, and the bridge-builder is ready for the next step. He therefore proceeds at
this point to construct the blue print of the work to be done, by drawing upon the
imagination and its faculties as they are to be found upon the highest level of his
astral, or sensitive vehicle. This does not relate to the emotions. Imagination is, as you
know, the lowest aspect of the intuition, and this fact must be remembered at all times.
Sensitivity, as an expression of the astral body, is the opposite pole to buddhic
sensitivity. The disciple has purified and refined his imaginative faculties so that they
are now responsive to the impression of the buddhic principle or of the intuitive
perception - perception, apart from sight or any recorded possible vision. According to
the responsiveness of the astral vehicle to the [489] buddhic impression, so will be the
accuracy of the "plans" laid for the building of the antahkarana and the
visualizing of the bridge of light in all its beauty and completeness.

The creative
imagination has to be stepped up in its vibratory nature so that it can affect the
"pool of energy" or the energy-substance which has been gathered for the
building of the bridge. The creative activity of the imagination is the first organizing
influence which works upon and within the ring-pass-not of accumulated energies, held in a
state of tension by the "intention" of the disciple. Ponder upon this occult and
significant statement.

The creative imagination is in the nature of an active energy, drawn up into
relationship with the point of tension; it there and then produces effects in mental
substance. The tension is thereby increased, and the more potent and the clearer the
visualization process, the more beautiful and strong will be the bridge. Visualization is
the process whereby the creative imagination is rendered active and becomes responsive to
and attracted by the point of tension upon the mental plane.

At this stage the disciple is occupied with two energies: one, quiescent and held
within a ring-pass-not, but at a point of extreme tension, and the other active, picture-forming,
outgoing and responsive to the mind of the bridge-builder. In this connection it should be
remembered that the second aspect of the divine Trinity is the form-building aspect, and
thus, under the Law of Analogy, it is the second aspect of the personality and the second
aspect of the Spiritual Triad which are becoming creatively active. The disciple is now
proceeding with the second stage of his building work, and so the numerical significance
will become apparent to you. He must work slowly at this point, picturing what he wants to
do, why he has to do it, what are the stages of his work, what will be the resultant
effects of his planned activity, and what are the materials with which he has to work. He
endeavors to visualize the entire process, and by this means sets up a definite rapport
(if successful) between the buddhic intuition and the creative imagination [490] of the
astral body. Consequently, you will have at this point:

The buddhic
activity of impression.

The tension
of the mental vehicle, as it holds the needed energy-substance at the point of projection.

The
imaginative processes of the astral body.

When the
disciple has trained himself to be consciously aware of the simultaneity of this threefold
work, then it goes forward successfully and almost automatically. This he does through the
power of visualization. A current of force is set up between these pairs of opposites
(astral-buddhic) and - as it passes through the reservoir of force upon the mental plane -
it produces an interior activity and an organization of the substance present. There then
supervenes a steadily mounting potency, until the third stage is reached and the work
passes out of the phase of subjectivity into that of objective reality - objective from
the standpoint of the spiritual man.